Apple Reportedly Taps Hyundai for 2024 Electric Car Debut

[Tsing]

Image: Hyundai



Hyundai isn’t the first automaker we’d think of when it comes to elite, luxury vehicles, but according to a new report from local newspaper Korea IT News, Apple is only months away from signing a partnership deal with the Korean car giant to manufacture its heavily hyped electric vehicle.



Reuters, which spotted the coverage, suggests that production could begin as early as 2024 in the United States at Kia Motors’ factory in Georgia. Hyundai and Apple may also opt to invest in a brand-new plant to achieve its goal of manufacturing 400,000 vehicles annually.



“The report follows a statement on Friday from Hyundai Motor that it was in early talks with Apple after another local media outlet said the companies aimed to launch a...

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[Dudhunter]

There are some interesting battery technology 3-4 years away but right now Tesla is way ahead of its battery competitors in efficiency, cost, and scale. I don’t agree with Tesla’s valuation but the idea that Apple can sub-contract out a car and battery is laughable.

 

[Dan_D]

Well, Apple just ensured its iCar will fail miserably. Hyundai is just about the last automaker it should partner with for that.

 

[Grimlakin]

Well, Apple just ensured its iCar will fail miserably. Hyundai is just about the last automaker it should partner with for that.

You fo know this is the same company that makes genesis cars right? Those have been well received and as far as I know loved by owners.

 

[Dan_D]

You fo know this is the same company that makes genesis cars right? Those have been well received and as far as I know loved by owners.

I am aware. But Hyundai resale value and perceived quality aren't the highest out there. Frankly, while they have improved their cars aren't the equal of their Japanese counterparts. Yes, some people that own them love them. There are also people who claim their Lorcin/Bryco/Jennings/Jimenez junk guns are great too.

It's on odd move from a company that generally wants to be on the cutting edge of technology and to be perceived as being the best/high end or whatever. Hyundai wouldn't be my go to for that if I was looking for a partner to launch a car.

 

[Zarathustra]

There are some interesting battery technology 3-4 years away but right now Tesla is way ahead of its battery competitors in efficiency, cost, and scale. I don’t agree with Tesla’s valuation but the idea that Apple can sub-contract out a car and battery is laughable.

Completely agree.

Don't get me wrong. Hyundai has come a VERY long way since the 90's. They have gone from laughable budget garbage to actually making really good cars these days.

Subcontracting with Apple could be good for them. The Apple branding "magic" could make people who otherwise would think of Hyundai as just junk budget cars of the 90's take another look. It isn't going to suddenly make the battery availability issue go away though. And that's the problem.

Compared to a good ICE vehicle, making an electric car is relatively easy. Many fewer moving parts, and much simpler engineering. That is, except the battery. There simply is not enough Lithium Ion battery manufacturing technology to supply all carmakers who want to make electric cars. That is the sole reason we haven't seen more jump head first into it, and have seen those who really want to go electric (Volvo for instance) struggle to do so. Say what you will about Mr. Musk (and most of it would probably be correct) but he did correctly predict the battery shortage issue, and took measures to make sure Tesla could manufacture its own in large volumes.

It's going to be difficult for anyone else to compete with this, not because they can't make a quality car. Tesla isn't even in contention for making top quality cars compared to other carmakers. The only thing they have going for them is battery availability. If other carmakers had access to batteries, they would absolutely crush Tesla.

I am aware. But Hyundai resale value and perceived quality aren't the highest out there. Frankly, while they have improved their cars aren't the equal of their Japanese counterparts. Yes, some people that own them love them.

Honestly, I think their product is more appealing than anything to come out of Toyota or Nissan these days. Granted, I was never a Toyota or Nissan fan, but...

 

[Auer]

Wild *** guess: Apple will sell more EV's in Asia than in the U.S.

 

[Auer]

I am aware. But Hyundai resale value and perceived quality aren't the highest out there. Frankly, while they have improved their cars aren't the equal of their Japanese counterparts. Yes, some people that own them love them. There are also people who claim their Lorcin/Bryco/Jennings/Jimenez junk guns are great too.

It's on odd move from a company that generally wants to be on the cutting edge of technology and to be perceived as being the best/high end or whatever. Hyundai wouldn't be my go to for that if I was looking for a partner to launch a car.

Only trucks hold resale value these days. (In the U.S.)

 

[Zarathustra]

Only trucks hold resale value these days. (In the U.S.)

As someone who has never bought a new car, and never will, I always found "resale value" to be a silly metric.

The lower the resale value the better the deal

I always buy 2 to 3 year old cars with 20-30k miles on them, sometimes CPO, keep them until I hit 100k, then rinse and repeat.

 

[Auer]

As someone who has never bought a new car, and never will, I always found "resale value" to be a silly metric.

The lower the resale value the better the deal

I always buy 2 to 3 year old cars with 20-30k miles on them, sometimes CPO, keep them until I hit 100k, then rinse and repeat.

VW has served me well in this regard XD

 

[Dan_D]

Only trucks hold resale value these days. (In the U.S.)

This is not entirely true. There are a few cars that do hold their resale value. Even if you were 100% right, the fact of the matter is they are all on a sliding scale and Hyundai is near the bottom of the list on holding value. Cadillac is worse and so is KIA, to give you an idea of the company that Hyundai keeps in that regard.

Sure, this could be great for Hyundai but it's not the best choice for Apple. If they had partnered with Toyota or Honda, it could be a home run for them. Hyundai isn't popular because they are awesome cars. They are popular because they are cheap and they aren't the absolute **** boxes they used to be.

As someone who has never bought a new car, and never will, I always found "resale value" to be a silly metric.

The lower the resale value the better the deal

I always buy 2 to 3 year old cars with 20-30k miles on them, sometimes CPO, keep them until I hit 100k, then rinse and repeat.

It's not. Granted there are circumstances which mitigate this as a deciding factor for some people. Say, keeping a vehicle until it's value has plummeted to nearly nothing is one mitigating factor. However, having something with a good resale value matters a lot when you buy new. My girlfriend needed $50,000 worth of dental work done and there was no way I was going to keep paying $1,000 a month for my F-250. I was able to sell that truck for $45,000 after owning it for 4 and a half years. Most vehicles will depreciate like rock for the life of the loan. Very few of them can be sold before the end of the loan period for enough to get out from under them. Thus, resale matters.

I bought a used 2002 Trans Am in 2003. I was able to sell that car for precisely what I owed on it a year later. My girlfriend at the time **** near had to pay her junk KIA Sportage off before it could be traded in. A friend of mine bought a Volkswagen CC and after a year struggled to get $15,000 for it. Again, resale matters. It's not a silly metric. It's just not a metric that's necessarily a point of concern for all situations. If you pay cash for cars that are a couple of years old, it probably doesn't matter that much to you. If you finance, especially when financing new vehicles it can matter a lot.

 

[Brian_B]

Wild *** guess: Apple will sell more EV's in Asia than in the U.S.

If that included China I think Apple, and every other EV manufacturer, would gladly take that deal.

 

[Armenius]

As someone who has never bought a new car, and never will, I always found "resale value" to be a silly metric.

The lower the resale value the better the deal

I always buy 2 to 3 year old cars with 20-30k miles on them, sometimes CPO, keep them until I hit 100k, then rinse and repeat.

There is a reason certain cars don't hold onto their value over time.

 

[Grimlakin]

There is a reason certain cars don't hold onto their value over time.

Like BMW's beyond the 50 thousand mile mark. It's like they fall off a cliff then because the free maintenance and repairs disappears then.

 

[Auer]

Like BMW's beyond the 50 thousand mile mark. It's like they fall off a cliff then because the free maintenance and repairs disappears then.

Still take one over a Chevy tho.

 

[Zarathustra]

Still take one over a Chevy tho.

Agreed.

There is more to a vehicle than long term value.

Long term value is just a measure of demand. Demand is sometimes rational, but sometimes not.

And even when a lack of demand is rational, that doesn't mean that a given vehicle isn't a good car.

My current daily non-driver (because I haven't been driving anywhere since March) is a 2017 Volvo S90 T6 with a factory Polestar tune.

I absolutely love this thing, even though I still feel a bit obnoxious driving it, as I am used to the old school utilitarian Volvo's. Volvo used all of that China money to go way way upscale, meaning that just like when Mercedes and BMW did it, there are a lot of features in there which when they break (autoleveling air suspension, dynamic suspension, twin charged engine, headlights that follow the road, etc.) will be expensive. I bought the factory CPO warranty to 100k miles. After 100k I expect the value of the car to be abysmal, and I don't plan on keeping it beyond that. That doesn't mean it isn't an amazing vehicle for me now.

 

[MadMummy76]

I don't think Testlas have particularly high reasale value either. And one thing is certain: If hyundai makes a car it will be better quality than any tesla.
Hyundai / Kia are by far the carmakers that improved the most in the past 10 years. And they were already close or even on par with their closest rivals back then.

 

[Strelok]

Hyundai has really good control over their entire supply chain and are improving rapidly. That's something that's probably attractive to Apple when looking for a manufacturing partner.

 

[Brian_B]

I can remember when Kia and Hyundai both came out in the US - the only two things they had going for them was being very cheap, and having a 10 year warranty. The drawbacks were that the car felt cheap and you really needed that warranty.

I have never owned one, but over the past several years (decades), my perception of people that own them has slowly gone from "Well the transmission went out again, but it's covered under warranty!" to "Not a bad car".

Not sure it's where I would seriously consider one myself (I tend to be one of the US Truck owners, but I have softened in that view lately), but I have to admit they've come a long way from where they started.

That said, yeah, there's still a perception there of Hyundai being a budget brand. They do own Genesis as their Luxury lineup, it's just pretty new and doesn't have a lot of exposure. I am not surprised that Apple would team up with a real manufacturer - I am somewhat surprised that it would be Hyundai though.

 

[Auer]

I wouldnt mind one of the Genesis Coupes if only it didnt hit the scales at 3,613 lbs for the 3.8.

I'd be in for one at....3100 lbs?